Innovation in Insurance: Differences Across Continents
Abstract
Innovation in technology has been rapid and consistent since the industrial age. In the last 20 years, it has permanently impacted the way that consumers and companies interact. Continual innovation in process and technology is required to compete in such an environment, regardless of the geographic location of the insurance company.
In the report Innovation in Insurance: Differences Across Continents, Celent analyses the differences among insurers in Asia-Pacific, Europe Middle East and Africa, Latin America, and North America in terms of their innovation initiatives, investments, and programs.
Implementing innovative and emerging technologies is important to attaining many strategic business objectives. Even though business priorities differ across continents, innovation initiatives can help insurers achieve their strategic goals directly and indirectly.
“Insurers recognize that the expectations of key stakeholders in the insurance value chain are changing. Customers, agents, and prospective policyholders all have greater expectations regarding the use of technology,” says Karen Monks, an analyst with Celent’s insurance practice and coauthor of the report.
“Our survey data indicates that insurers believe that innovation can benefit many aspects of their business. However, insurers recognize that they generally perform poorly in delivering successful innovation when compared with other companies,” adds Nicolas Michellod, a senior analyst with Celent’s Insurance practice and coauthor of the report.
This report details the results of our regional insurance CIO surveys as well as some specific innovation surveys conducted recently starting with a background on innovation in insurance and details on the results of our surveys. This report provides Celent’s findings on how innovation is perceived to support strategic business objectives and analyzes the priorities insurers consider important when investing in innovation initiatives as well as where they are in terms of these investments, and how their culture supports or hinders innovation.